Paul Stelzer


Dr. Paul Stelzer is an American cardiothoracic surgeon who is one of the few worldwide to routinely perform the Ross procedure – a procedure Stelzer helped establish as the standard for aortic valve replacement. Stelzer's experience with the Ross procedure is considered the most extensive in the world, having pioneered the contemporary iteration of the procedure.
Stelzer is currently the Co-Director of the Heart Valve Center and a senior surgeon in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, and a Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, both in New York City.

Biography

Stelzer graduated valedictorian from the Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, in 1968, and from Columbia Medical School in 1972. After serving two years as the Surgeon General at the base hospital at Offut Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, Stelzer completed residencies at Roosevelt Hospital and New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, both in New York City.
Stelzer's report on the Ross procedure, co-authored with Susanne Weinrauch and Robert F. Tranbaugh and published in 1997 in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, has been cited in over 20 medical publications across the globe.
Stelzer's experience with aortic valve replacement also extends to homograft, stentless porcine, and implantations of mechanical valves, and in 1999 he was awarded a U.S. patent for his minimally invasive endoscope.
Past hospital positions have included Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the Oklahoma Memorial Hospital and Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York. He served as president of the New York Society of Thoracic Surgery for the academic year 2006-2007.

Publications